Community building events are inherent to the Park’s fabric. Networking opportunities are commonplace; these include happy hours, lunches celebrating holidays of all sorts, bonfires and an annual holiday party. We do educational events, conferences and bring in speakers who have been successful entrepreneurs. The Research Park is a partner with the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation for its TechMix events, a gathering of local technology companies, service organizations, and entrepreneurs. We have periodic non-credit classes on a variety of topics.

The Research Park also facilitates several recurring events targeted at certain groups. Tech CEO Roundtable Dinners provide a small group interaction for CEOs of technology businesses in Champaign-Urbana to address business operations and best practices. A new initiative is an informal lunch forum for women working in the technology sector in Champaign-Urbana, an effort developed since women are still in the minority in these fields. It includes women working in biotech, engineering, IT, or any type of scientific/technology roles within local tech companies.

Event Highlights

The forum gives a chance for entrepreneurs to share their story and provide insights on their success, things they wish they would have known before gettings started, and lessons from their entrepreneurial journey.

The Research Park and Krannert Center for the Performing Arts are back once again as a team for OUTSIDE at Research Park on July 19, 2019. The artist for this year's event will be announced soon.The performance space and seating area are located just south of the Atkins Building at the corner of First Street and St. Mary’s Road in Champaign. The tree-lined, grassy space has hosted thousands of audience members each summer since the inception of OUTSIDE in 2007.

Food Trucks in the Research Park are primarily located in the parking lot at 1901 S. First St. This is at the intersection of Hazelwood Drive and First Street, and the trucks will be parked in the lot's southeast corner. Thank you for your support of our food truck program. We would love to have more trucks join us in 2019!
Please note that trucks are not under contract to be in Research Park, and schedule is subject to change without notice.

The CEO Roundtable is chaired by Brian Jurczyk, CEO of Starfire, and provides a small group interaction for CEO's of technology businesses in Champaign-Urbana to address business operations and best practices.